Report By Leo Odera Omolo.
Four partner states o the East African Community have resolved that national identity cards issued to the citizens by member states can now be used officially as the inter-states travelling documents instead of passports.
From now onward citizens of the four countries, namely Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi can use their national identity cards as the recognized official travelling documents in the region.
Information emerging from the Arusha-based secretariat of the EAC says the four nations are in the process of issuing electronic identity cards that will be used as travelling documents. The EAC Secretary General, Dr Richard Sezibera made the disclosed of the decision by the four states during an address to the just concluded symposium of the East African Legislative Assembly MPs.
The symposium was held to mark the tenth anniversary of the EALA, the political umbrella of the community.
Among the principal speakers at the workshop was the retired President f Kenya Daniel Arap Moi who urged the partners states to hasten the creation f the pliticalfederati0n so as to harmonize the regional integration The seminar brought together close to 300 experts, professional and academicians from the region who gathered in Arusha to brain storm on several contentious issues affecting Africa’s most vibrant and successful economic bloc.
“I am informed that Kenya is making arrangement to issue the electronic identity cards to its national by September this year, ”said Dr Sezibera, adding Tanzania has n t made the decision yet, but he urged Dar Es Salaam to do so in order to harmonize travelling documents that will enable free movement of people as provided in the Common Market Protocol.
Dr Sezibera also stated that though the East African Passports should be an international travelling document it uses was rather cumbersome for the citizens of the region.
The Secretary-General was responding to the various issues raised by the EAlA MPs during the symposium.
Other requirements for free movement of persons across the EAC border include a single tourism visa.
He speaker f the EALA Abdirahaman Abdi raised the issue passports having to be stamped so many times a s one moves within EAC states occasioning the need to fast-track the issuing of travelling documents acceptable for use in the region.
“People must have travelling documents that will not be stamped at the point of entry or exit,” says the Speaker.
The Common Market is yet o be fully operationalised as some of the requirements are not yet in place. Electron8ic readable cards is one of the documents EAC partners states are required to issue to their citizens to facilitate the four freedom in the region-free movement of people, goods, services and capital.
Meanwhile an expert has advised the EAC partner states that they will have write a constitution to oversee the implementation of the much touted political federation of East African states.
The Deputy Secretary General Ms Beatrice Kirasi one of the brain behind the Community’s successes while addressing the EALS workshop held specifically to disseminate findings of a study conducted on key areas of the federation. She said this was one of the major proposals made by experts to oversee the operation of the regional economic bloc.
“Existing individual EAC states national constitutions have very little regional integration issues.”We have proposed the drafting of an EAC constitution that will have to be negotiated to oversee the political federation after adoption of a monetary union,” she said.
The proposed EAC constitution will accommodate those of the five EAC partner states, she said, adding that a number of constitutional provisions in existing individual EAC member states would be retained under the political federation. Kiraso said that the election of presidents in the EAC member states would be retained under the political federation.
Kiraso said the views recorded during the workshop would be presented to the EAC Heads of state summit to chat the way forward before the end of the year.
Presenting a paper entitled “A comparative Study on the Structure and Functioning of Federation, a Kenyan scholar Prof Tom Ojienda who is also a Commissioner in the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission said there are a number of convergences and divergences in the five constitutions of the EAC member states {Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi} that can be harmonized to drive the process.
“The executive, judiciary and legislative framework in the EAC are similar in a number of ways including election of presidents and MPs. However, there is divergence on the terms that the president is expected to serve,”
In the four of the five EAC member states, namely Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi, the constitution allow the president to serve foe two terms or fixed periods. In Uganda the number of terms for the president is unlimited,” he said, adding that this will have o be harmonized in the long run.
A scientist at the Dodoma University and a leading Kenyan scholar Prof Amukwa Anangwe was among hose who presented papers for debate and studies during the workshop. The latter is also a former Cabinet in the Ministry of Health.
Ends